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September 29, 1983 - Picking Potatoes -- Past and PresentSECOND SECTION 04r,Xrmq 1ritirill September 29, 1983 ROWS OF HANDPICKED POTATOES- -Years ago much help was needed truck. Today one good potato combine can do the work of a crew of to pick potatoes by hand. Then lined up, they would be picked up by a men. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Picking Potatoes -- Past and Present By PAUL STOUTENBURGH It surely didn't take long for the sweaters and jackets to come out when the temperature dropped last week. Windows that were opened all summer suddenly were closed to try to keep in some of the warmth that had built up during the warmer days. Even the pesky flies that gave our cows such a hard time and scurried them into the barn to escape their harassment were missing as soon as the cooler days and nights came along. The new moon of last week shown brighter and crisper through the new fall air, a true harvest moon. And, of course, the potato diggers were bringing their precious crops to the surface to be sorted and sold or stored in hopes of higher prices later. How potato farming has changed. When we were kids, we picked potatoes for 2 cents and 3 cents a bushel. Today you see no hand picking. In those days the one or possibly two -row potato digger left its trail of potatoes on the surface of the newly -dug ground. Then the pickers with their potato baskets would follow. (By the way recently I saw one ingenious farmer selling some of those old potato baskets for a fabulous price at a yard sale.) Once the baskets were filled they were dumped into burlap bags. These were then lined up in rows where later on a truck would come along, pick them up and take them to a commercial potato house or to the farm storage. In those days there were a lot more potatoes grown and migrant crews moved into the area during harvest time to do the picking. Migrant camps were common then throughout our East End. Then came the period of trial and error when the potato combines took over. The predecessor of the huge combines that we see today was a conveyor that traveled behind the digger and carried the potatoes up an incline where they were culled of rocks, dirt lumps, weeds, etc. and then dropped into waiting potato bags eliminating the hand picking. This was much more efficient than the old way. Many types and sizes were tried until the present fairly efficient machine. Today these huge machines with one or two people culling, march down the rows spewing their potatoes onto a conveyor that then drops them into a bulk bodied truck that keeps pace with the digger. Still a Bargain Potatoes are still one of the best buys and one that ranks high on the American table for its nutrient value and taste. We always have a bag or two out in the garage where they seem to keep the best. Our supply comes from my father -in- law, who takes great pride in his potato ,crop. Years ago we had potato farms all around us and at this time of the year the drone and clatter of the potato digger could always be heard. If it was far away you could usually locate it by the cloud of dust traveling along with it. Often after the farmer finished he'd let our kids go out in the newly dug land and pick up the little potatoes that fell through the digger chains. About the size of a half dollar, they were scattered on the new fresh earth. They always seemed to taste so good freshly boiled and buttered and eaten skin and all. Few vegetables can top them. Once the potatoes were out, the land was disced and sowed in rye for a cover crop. In no time it seemed the rye would be up and if a rain happened to come along the back field from then on would be a carpet of green. Some farmers plant cauliflower and sprouts for a fall crop. We were always told that cauliflower seed was more expensive by weight than gold. I'm not sure how that figures now with the current price of gold but I rather imagine that the price of cauliflower seed has pretty well kept pace along with everything else. Tying the heads up so the cauliflower stays white is a laborious job. Years back some farmers folded the leaves over the head, others used dried grass stalks while the majority used hanks of colored string. Now I see colored rubber bands have taken over. Whatever method is used it is all for the purpose of keeping the head shaded to keep it white. When cauliflower is ready for harvesting it is cut with big cauliflower knives. First the stalk and then the leaves that have protected the head are lopped off. Once cut they are then packed into crates so the white head does not become bruised. It all sounds so easy but a good cutter is worth his pay for a poor one can miscut and waste a lot. The end result is to make a good looking crate of cauliflower cut just right so that it shows off what the farmer has raised for it is now to the cauliflower block where most of our cauliflower is auctioned off at a colorful bidding. Takes Practice to Cut Cauliflower Like so many things the art of cauliflower cutting and tying is something that comes only with practice. I was often glad to see the farmer miss and shave a bit of the head off making it unsalable. When this occurred we were always welcomed to pick up the discarded head and take it home. It was perfectly good to eat but not good enough to pack. The farmer never minded us taking these cut cauliflower or his cull potatoes as we knew him well. It was a time when you knew everyone. The land has been good to the farmer producing its bounty year after year. In a better world farmland would be put at the head of the list• to be kept as farmland only. Like the air we breathe, so necessary for life, so too is the farmland necessary to produce the food we need. We take these things too much for granted and think that there will always be farmland producing its bounty for us. Things have changed from the time we picked potatoes by hand but the importance of the farmer and his produce will never change. Community Calendar -- Who, What, Where and When 7FA= .OM: KINNEV ROANOKE AVE. OLDSMOBILE -CHEVROLET J Where Route 25 Meets 105, Riverhead 727 -1100 GM QUAIJTY uacw,. r• " RT�105 t T'l` O SERVICE PAJM SECOND SECTION The *Uffolh Timeg September 29, 1983 ROWS OF HANDPICKED POTATOES- -Years ago much help was needed truck. Today one good potato combine can do the work of a crew of to pick potatoes by hand. Then lined up, they would be picked up by a men. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Picking Potatoes -- Past and Present By PAULSTOUTENBURGH It surely didn't take long for the sweaters and jackets to come out when the temperature dropped last week. Windows that were opened all summer suddenly were closed to try to keep in some of the warmth that had built up during the warmer days. Even the pesky flies that gave our cows such a hard time and scurried them into the barn to escape their harassment were missing as soon as the cooler days and nights came along. The new moon of last week shown brighter and crisper through the new fall air, a true harvest moon. And, of course, the potato diggers were bringing their precious crops to the surface to be sorted and sold or stored in hopes of higher prices later. How potato farming has changed. When we were kids, we picked potatoes for 2 cents and 3 cents a bushel. Today you see no hand picking. In those days the one or possibly two -row potato digger left its trail of potatoes on the surface of the newly -dug ground. Then the pickers with their potato baskets would follow. (By the way recently I saw one ingenious farmer selling some of those old potato baskets for a fabulous price at a yard sale.) Once the baskets were filled they were dumped into burlap bags. These were then lined up in rows where later on a truck would come along, pick them up and take them to a commercial potato house or to the farm storage. In those days there were a lot more potatoes grown and migrant crews moved into the area during harvest time to do the picking. Migrant camps were common then throughout our East End. Then came the period of trial and error when the potato combines took over. The predecessor of the huge combines that we see today was a conveyor that traveled behind the digger and carried the potatoes up an incline where they were culled of rocks, dirt lumps, weeds, etc. and then dropped into waiting potato bags eliminating the hand picking. This was much more efficient than the old way. Many types and sizes were tried until the present fairly efficient machine. Today these huge machines with one or two people culling, march, down the rows spewing their potatoes ftQn� @0� 0�r'JUTN onto a conveyor that then drops them into a bulk bodied truck that keeps pace with the digger. Still a Bargain Potatoes are still one of the best buys and one that ranks high on the American table for. its nutrient value and taste. We always have a bag or two out in the garage where they seem to keep the best. Our supply comes from my father -in- law, who takes great pride in his potato ,crop. Years ago we had potato farms all around us and at this time of the year the drone and clatter of the potato digger could always be heard. If it was far away you could usually locate it by the cloud of dust traveling along with it. Often after the farmer finished he'd let our kids go out in the newly dug land and pick up the little potatoes that fell through the digger chains. About the size of a half dollar, they were scattered on the new fresh earth. They always seemed to taste so good freshly boiled and buttered and eaten skin and all. Few vegetables can top them. Once the potatoes were out, the land was disced and sowed in rye for a cover crop. In no time it seemed the rye would be up and if a rain happened to come along the back field from then on would be a carpet of green. Some farmers plant cauliflower and sprouts for a fall crop. We were always told that cauliflower seed was more expensive by weight than gold. I'm not sure how that figures now with the current price of gold but I rather imagine that the price of cauliflower seed has pretty well kept pace along with everything else. Tying the heads up so the cauliflower stays white is a laborious job. Years back some farmers folded the leaves over the head, others used dried grass stalks while the majority used hanks of colored string. Now I see colored rubber bands have taken over. Whatever method is used it is all for the purpose of keeping the head shaded to keep it white. When cauliflower is ready for harvesting it is cut with big cauliflower knives. First the stalk and then the leaves that have protected the head are lopped off. Once cut they are then packed into crates so the white head does not become bruised. It all sounds so easy but a good cutter is worth his pay for a poor one can miscut and waste a lot. The end result is to make a good looking crate of cauliflower cut just right so that it shows off what the farmer has raised for it is now to the cauliflower block where most of our cauliflower is auctioned off at a colorful bidding. Takes Practice to Cut Cauliflower Like so many things the art of cauliflower cutting and tying is something that comes only with practice. I was often glad to see the farmer miss and shave a bit of the head off making it unsalable. When this occurred we were always welcomed to pick up the discarded head and take it home. It was perfectly good to eat but not good enough to pack. The farmer never minded us taking these cut cauliflower or his cull potatoes as we knew him well. It was a time when you knew everyone. The land has been good to the farmer producing its bounty year after year. In a better world farmland would be put at the head of the list to be kept as farmland only. Like the air we breathe, so necessary for life, so too is the farmland necessary to produce the food we need. We take these things too much for granted and think that there will always be farmland producing its bounty for us. Things havb changed from the time we picked potatoes by hand but the importance of the farmer and his produce will never change. Community Calendar -- Who, What, Where and When K-rM �U J1 t & a_-40� 0V KINME 11 ROAE AVE. NOK OLDSMOBILE -CHEVROLET Where Route 25 Meets 105, Riverhead J �" 727-1100 GM QUALffY